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Puhlishi.og:
The
PLAIN TRUTH
• M4-.
of
0'ND11STAND1NG
Dear Friend:
The
WORLD TOMORROW
A WORLD·WIDB BROADCAST
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&
T W.
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Proclaim• ta the Wotld tb•
GooD Natn
OP
TRll
WOIU.J)
ToloiO~W'
Box
lll, PASADBNA, CA.L.ll'OINIA
Many
readers continue to write
Mr.
Armstrong,
addressing
him
as "Reverend.
11
Should th1.8 be done? Let us
understand how and when it became the custom to give
m~is
tere this title.
The
word "reverend" is applied only to God
in
the
Bible .-- it is not once applied to
man.
In Psalm
111:9
we
read:
11
• • •
He'"\CfoQ'}Iiath commanded his covenant for ever:
holy and
REVEREND
is
HIS NAME."
Another translation renders
it: "Holy and awful (that ·is, full of awe, worthy of worship)
.is his
name.
11
God alone has a name which may properly be addressed
as "Reverend." No
man
Will have such
a
name until born again
in the resurrection. No m.1.nister
has
a name which is worthy
of reverence or worship.
You cannot find one place in all the New Testament
where Paul, Peter, James, John -- or
any
other minister -–
were ever addressed as
11
Reverend.
11
If
we follow the Bible
example -- wh.ich we are commanded to do -- then we ought not
ever use the title "Reverend
11
for any m.iniater. (See also
Matt.
23:9.)
Since many mlll.iaters of this world's religions
would take offense were you not to give them some title, you
may properly address them as
11
Paator,
11
or
11
Elder,
11
or
"Evangelist,
11
or "Bishop,
11
depending on what office they hold.
These are proper titles of office given
in
the New Testament.
They may be applied -- out of respect to ministers, whether
or not those ministers are serving the true God.
The use of ti.tles such as
11
Reverend" began Whf;m
the great apostacy set in the Church at the close of the first
century. Ministers put themselves "in the tlace of Christ."
Hence they took upon themselves the ittrrDu es ana-titles of
d.iv1n.1ty. God's min.isters have never done eo.
LETTER ANSWERING
DEPARTMENT
..